Women's Basketball | 3/6/2017 10:06:00 AM

NEW ORLEANS, La. - Georgia Southern women's basketball players Angel McGowan and Patrice Butler have been named to the Sun Belt All-Conference Second Team, as announced by the league office Monday morning. The all-conference selections and individual award winners were chosen in a vote by the league's 12 coaches as well as media members covering the 12 teams.

McGowan, a guard from Greenville, S.C., was the first ever All-Sun Belt selection for the GS women's basketball program during her junior campaign, and picks up her second consecutive honor as her final season winds down. McGowan has had a phenomenal senior season for Georgia Southern and sits in the top of six different categories throughout the Sun Belt conference.

She has been the team's leading scorer this season with an average of 15.7 points per game, ranking her third in the conference. McGowan has also been a threat for opposing teams from three-point range, sinking 53 this season and holding a 36.3% shooting percentage from beyond the arch. She averages 2 per game for GS, which puts her sixth in the conference. She also leads the team and is 10th in the Sun Belt in steals with 1.7 per game, 46 total.  

A 2015-2016 Second Team All-Conference Selection, McGowan earned College Sports Madness Player of the Week honors this season after scoring 40 points in a weekend against Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina (1/15-1/21). McGowan finished her junior campaign with an exact 1,000 career points and has tallied on another 423 this season, bringing her career total to 1,423.
 
McGowan has stamped her name in the GS record books and is currently in the top-20 in program history of six career categories, including the top-10 of four. McGowan jumped into 7th all-time for points scored (1,423) is now 4th in steals (196), 2nd in three-point field goals attempted (526), and slid into third in three-point field goals made (157). McGowan now also jumped into 6th all time in field goals attempted with 1,187.

Butler, a senior forward from Norcross, Ga., earns her first conference honor following a stellar senior season. Butler has been pivotal to the Eagles success all season, she is the only Georgia Southern player to start and play in every game and is leading GS in multiple categories. These include overall points (417), field goals made (151), field goal percentage (44.2%), rebounds (197/7.0 per game) and blocks (25/0.9 per game).

Butler also is in the top of several Sun Belt Conference categories including scoring (4th), rebounding (8th), field goal percentage (9th), free-throw percentage (5th), blocked shots (8th), 3-point percentage/FG made (13th) and both offensive and defensive rebounds (15th/6th).

During the Eagles game against South Alabama on January 5th, Patrice scored her 1,000th career point between her three years at Georgia Southern and her first year playing at Furman. She has also reached 1,000 points during solely her time here at GS. In the Eagles game against Arkansas State last weekend, Butler scored a career-high 28 points to lead GS to a win.

Butler also has tallied over 500 rebounds on her career. In Georgia Southern's most recent game against Georgia State, she recorded five rebounds and brought her career total to 504. Butler also sits 16^th in school history in blocks.
  
2016 Sun Belt All-Conference Teams
First Team All-Conference
Sharde' Collins (Little Rock, G, Senior, Sociology)
Kaitlyn Pratt (Little Rock, F, Senior, Social Work)
Jaylyn Gordon (Louisiana, G, Senior, General Studies)
Rebekah VanDijk (UTA, C, Junior, Pre-Law)
Caitlyn Ramirez (Troy, F, Senior, Psychology)
 
Second Team All-Conference
Ced Gibson (Coastal Carolina, G, Senior, Interdisciplinary Studies)
Patrice Butler (Georgia Southern, F/C, Senior, Sports Management)
Angel McGowan (Georgia Southern, G, Senior, Mathematics)
Simone Fields (Louisiana, F/C, Junior, Informatics)
Cierra Johnson (UTA, G, Junior, Child Psychology)
 
Third Team All-Conference
Joi Jones (Appalachian State, G, Senior, Biology)
Madi Story (Appalachian State, F, Junior, Exercise Science)
Jada Lewis (Georgia State, G, Freshman)
Chyna Ellis (South Alabama, C, Junior, Allied Health)
Taeler Deer (Texas State, G, Junior, Exercise/Sport Science)
 
Player of the Year
Sharde' Collins (Little Rock, G, Senior, Sociology)
 
Defensive Player of the Year
Cierra Johnson (UTA, G, Junior, Child Psychology)
 
Freshman of the Year
Jada Lewis (Georgia State, G, Freshman)
 
Newcomer of the Year
Tiffany Holston (Georgia State, F, Graduate)
 
Coach of the Year
Joe Foley, Little Rock
 

The 2017 Sun Belt Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are scheduled for a week of March Madness in the Big Easy.  New Orleans will once again be home to the two championships that will take place at Lakefront Arena from March 7-12 and ticket books can now be purchased from your our ticket office.  For more information, visit the Sun Belt Conference's championship central websites - Men's Championship – Women's Championship – and be sure to follow the @FunBelt on social media - @SunBelt.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. Fans can purchase tickets to Georgia Southern Athletics events by visiting GSEagles.com/Tickets.